This summer has been one long heat wave. I’m trying not to complain, since I spent most of February and March complaining about the cold. But, dang, it’s hot!

Yesterday’s walk in the park was certainly no walk in the park, I assure you. I got a late start at 9:00 a.m., and by then, the temps were already at 90° without the humidity factored in. It was like walking through soup. But I persevered and walked four miles. It took me almost 70 minutes to do it, but I got it done.

And then I went home and died. Well, first I stopped and got an enormous glass of iced tea and a tiny bag of pretzels, and then I went home and died, resurrecting myself only when the hunger noises grew too loud to sleep through.

I was going to get a walk in early this a.m., but I had to deliver cake balls to my parents for serving at Ronald McDonald House today. Since Memaw lives across the patio from them and knew I was there (thanks, Daisy Dog), this also required a visit to Memaw’s watermelon. (It really is the best watermelon I’ve had this summer. It’s so cute how proud she is of this thing. I only hope we don’t have to go through this with the other six melons still on the vines in various ripening stages.)

Anyway, all that visiting meant that it’s already too warm outside for this gal to be exercising, so I think I’ll head to the gym later today for an elliptical 5k. I haven’t done one of those for a while. Should be a nice change of pace! I’ll toss in some easy core stuff to round out the trip.

I snacked way too much on the cake ball chocolate yesterday (those finger licks add up, you know), so today’s special post-workout treat will be much lighter. And icy cold. Ahhh….

The local paper had a recipe for frozen fruit cups last week, which I adapted and healthified (somewhat). The original recipe included sour cream and 3/4 cup of sugar(!), but I fixed that. Here’s what I came up with:

Mix all the ingredients together. Pour into muffin tins lined with paper muffin cups. Freeze until firm. Store in a freezer container and use as needed.

Notes:
1) I used mini-muffin cups and got 18 cups out of it. Based on the ingredients I used, this means that each cup has about 55-60 calories.
2) I added the sugar last, because I wanted to taste the concoction without it first. It definitely needed *something*, so I used my smallest measuring cup to slowly add in some sugar, stopping at a scant 1/8 cup. I think next time (and there will definitely be a next time) I’ll omit the lemon juice and use some of the pineapple juice instead. I may not need any sugar at all that way. We’ll see.
3) This recipe is easily adaptable for other fruits and nuts as well. You could also stir in protein powder for some additional nutrition. I have all sorts of combinations in mind for future versions, including one with coconut. Yum! Oh, and I’m not sure why the recipe called for only 1/4 cup of strawberries. It would benefit from 1/2 cup or more, easily. I’ve been using fresh sliced strawberry as garnish, which is also nice.
4) The cups freeze solidly, so they’re not an eat-from-the-freezer kind of thing. I pull one out while I’m making dinner and it’s nice and frosty/creamy when I’m ready for dessert.
5) I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m wondering if 1-2 mini-cups added to a green smoothie base would be tasty. I may try that later this week.

17 thoughts on “Hot in Any Language”

Hey Cammy!
I’m a reader who doesn’t have a blog of my own, so I appreciate so much your hard work in keeping one up! I’m sure it’s way more work than I can even imagine, so feel free to ignore this favor I’m about to ask: I remember that you won a Vita-Mix from a blog contest a while back, and I was wondering if you might do a post about how you’ve been using it! I just got one and would love some ideas!

I love hearing about your Memaw and her watermelon. Both of my grandmothers have been gone for 40 years or so, but I remember my Tennessee grandmother was famous for her watermelons. I don’t recall that she grew them herself, but when we visited there were always watermelon parties in the back yard. Hot, hot, muggy weather. No air conditioning. Tons of southern cousins, and a huge chilled watermelon. She would referee seed spitting competitions (how far you could spit a seed from a set mark).

Although my limit is usually four ingredients to a recipe, those fruit cups do sound very refreshing and delicious. Awesome price on the Wilton baking cups. Except for the heat, I’d say a very good weekend for you. Happy August!

Oh those frozen fruit cups sound divine. I like the idea of having a frozen dessert at the ready. And yes, I can see all the variations that could be done. I really like versatile recipes like that.

And IMO the daytime temps would be bearable if only it would cool down a little more at night. That is a horrendous forecast. Right now it is very hot during the day, but for some reason it is really cooling off about 7pm, and that is when I take Noah out for walk number two–I’ve really been enjoying it.

I haven’t gotten too much into garage sales, but I sure do love the thrift stores.

Welcome!

I'm Cammy, and after years of the diet cycle--trying, failing, trying, failing, trying--well, you get the picture--I finally discovered a successful path to losing 100 pounds, a path that required slow, gradual changes. Read more...

Looking for something?

Search by category:

Search by month:

Paying My Gym Fees

My Other Blog:

A couple of weeks ago, the produce market sent me home with a bag of apples containing an unadvertised and undesirable “Free Gift with Purchase”: fruit flies! Unfortunately, this happened at a time when I was traveling a bit, and … Continue reading →

I don’t like to brag, but I’m a pretty good speller. I even came in third place in a junior high spelling bee once. (Until a few years ago, I always thought I was first runner-up, but my mother corrected … Continue reading →

During my last post, in which I showed you an easy way to remove sticky spots from the floor, I lamented the sad state of my 40-year old vinyl flooring. All that inherited and ground-in grime that repeated scrubbing with … Continue reading →